The working platform can be provided, for example, by using a pontoon or raft floating and rolling on the sea surface, which is secured e.g. to another pontoon or anchors for holding the power stator or optionally the rotor of a generator roughly in its orientation and stationary even in deep water. This function can also be performed by means of parachute-like drag anchors of a canvas material, which brace themselves e.g. with metal-stranded wires or ropes in a large and less mobile or quiescent body of water. The drag anchors may also serve as mounting brackets during work.
In a wave of sea water, the force, pressure and potential energy of oscillatory motion can be taken up e.g. by helical double-faced, concave (Ko), generally continuous channel surfaces, extending through 180 degrees or half a circle around a shaft and being at least partially open to flow or current. Opposite to the concave channel surface presently taking up the current, on the other side of the rotating shaft is provided a convex (Ku) vane surface. Each vane is concave in its surface facing the shaft and convex in its opposite or outer surface. The vanes are open V- or A-shaped vanes, which are usually arcuate in cross-section. The vanes are located at a distance from each other, with the concave sides facing each other, and are slightly rounded at the sharp end. The pairs of vanes complementary to each other enable transmission of a rotative force to the power shaft of a rotor, which is generally set between the vanes. By way of braces, which are streamlined in the moving direction of sea water, i.e. which provide a low resistance, the inertial and centrifugal forces of a wave are transferred from form parts to a rotating power shaft which is preferably horizontal but can also be vertical. The concave surface takes up the current and pressure force during rotation, while the convex surface rotates simultaneously also around the shaft. Various components of force and energy, e.g. motion, speed, inertia, pressure, and potential, find themselves in a complicated interaction at the surface of a turbine in keeping with natural laws. These can be combined in the power shaft of a rotor as the arcuate and axially often slightly inclined vane surface is forced to rotary motion in response to inertial forces introduced by a wave or a mass of current or becomes generally exposed to the propulsion of centrifugal forces of water. The electromagnetic resistance force of a generator is generally inclined to work against all kinetic forces of a water wave applied to the vanes of the apparatus, but the resistance force gives in to the forces of a water wave acting on the vanes and converting into electricity in the generator's winding.
The swelling of the sea, its oscillating field or current are perturbed by many factors. Even in water waves, many different oscillations will be summed up in longitudinal, lateral and vertical directions as a result of reflection and deflection.
Marine waves carry a very high total accumulation of energy all the time. This energy reserve, i.e. the marine “accumulator”, is currently almost unused, despite the enormous demand. In fact, the supply of energy is presently practiced in an unnecessarily expensive and polluting fashion, e.g. by burning oil, coal, wood, waste or by means of nuclear power with the resulting radiation and waste.
Indeed, it would only take about 2% of the marine wave energy to produce enough electricity for the whole world's energy demand. The power of ocean swells at its peak is approximately 100 kW/m of wave front or shoreline. Commonly existing powers along seasides are about 10-50 kW/m in non-freezing regions. The heaving sea can also be maintained in energy production during winter by means of air, as warm heavy water is brought from deep up to the surface along with air. Sea lanes, in particular, can be maintained clear of solid ice and making waves in the wind by means of air bubbles rising from a warmer deeper layer and partially also by warmer water rising from deep and having a high thermal capacity. After all, every individual moving wave mass represents a small energy reserve or a mechanical accumulator.
The mechanism sustaining sea waves comprises principally wind of unstable directions and force and occasionally underwater earthquakes in the form of a tsunami. In the latter, the body of water advancing in a pressure wave rises to form a high and long wave as the overlying air offers little resistance to the rising wave. Indeed, the horizontal and vertical motion of water molecules is generally most intense near the surface, but becomes slower as the depth increases and the moving body of water grows in thickness. Due to the instability of this source of energy, the recovery and storage of energy has thus far been difficult and expensive. The large water masses of waves appear to be moving and “pumping” back and forth constantly in the sea. The energy of marine waves can be harnessed for the production of electric power instead of building more nuclear power facilities, for example. The energy production process according to the invention eliminates nearly all emissions and waste products over the entire life cycle of the equipment.
This invention enables utilizing a pair of open double-faced concave and convex form parts connected to a power shaft, said form parts extending helically through 180 degrees and gradually opening with respect to the upstream direction. The convex surface confronting the flow or current transforms gradually in the current into a concave surface taking up the current and force on the downstream side of the same vane panel. The concave channel surface open to the current of water constitutes, as seen in the downstream direction, usually about 30 . . . 40% of the projected side area of a turbine, the rest being generally covered on the upstream side by the ridge-shaped convex vane of the turbine. The current is reflected sideways, e.g. onto the concave surface, by the convex surface. Along the counterflow section of a turbine, the rotative concave vane is shielded by the convex vane until the functions thereof are gradually reversed over the helical extent of 180 degrees.
A spiral-shaped helical body, lying within a current or oscillation, has always at least a portion of the concave surface in the process of taking up forces of current from all directions and of establishing a block or barrier to the current repeatedly over every cycle and of transferring the pressure or kinetic force of a wave or oscillation through an opening or slot 4 between the form parts by way of braces 5a or support plates 55 to a rotating shaft 3.
The improvement of the invention is primarily focused on upgrading the use and enhancing the efficiency of currents and multi-directional oscillatory motions occurring in waves of water.
According to the invention, the improvement is provided in such a way that a turbine, rotating e.g. in a directionally unstable sea current or in oscillatory motions, uses its concave surface contour to take up even multi-directional currents and a pressure effect while turning helically around a nearly stationary or slowly moving shaft.
In this application, the term “sea” is used, for example, in reference to open ocean, archipelago, inland lake, man-made lake, river or reservoir, having an open surface exposed to wind effect for sustaining water waves and collecting energy as wave motion to establish an energy reserve. Marine surface layers, in particular, are exposed to high-speed wind which produces water waves and increases the size thereof by its friction.
In this application, the term “wave energy” is used in reference to mechanical motion of water occurring in almost any direction, to oscillation or to an accumulation wave of several waves, i.e. interference. In wave motion, the molecules of flowing water migrate in one direction or back and forth along an almost regular path in an alternating transition of at least two different energy forms, the energy passing this way through the water.
In this application, the term “form factor k” is used in reference to the proportion of a flow resisting force provided by a particular form. An experimental study on the resistance to motion in a current provided by various forms has been presented in a Finnish textbook High School Physics (Nurmi-Ahlman-Fedosov-Höglander-Qvickström) in 1961. Measurements were conducted with air by doctor Uuno Nurmi and are shown in FIG. 1 for form parts a . . . f. The resistance to motion is mainly due to turbulence downstream of the parts. Projected areas in a plane perpendicular to current are equal and other factors are also constant. The formula of a resistance force F for surfaces of various contours is shown at the bottom of FIG. 1. The resistance force is obtained by multiplying the form factor k by the density of a substance in flowing or oscillatory motion and by the part's projected area perpendicular to current and by the square of speed of motion. The coefficient resulting from a specific form is presented as the form factor k on the right side of the figure, the current coming from the left as illustrated by arrows.
In this application, the term “structurally solid” is used in reference to a material substantially impervious to gas or liquid, e.g. a composite structure, which is generally smooth in its surface and light, yet capable of resisting major forces and various types of abrasion.
The form values of FIG. 1 apply not only to air but also roughly to water, even though the density of water is about 1000-fold with respect to air. Because of the difference in density, the wind power is indeed recovered more effectively by small equipment from the waves of a waterway than from air. The forces of water are much more powerful in a small space than those of air. Liquid water has also a powerful inertial and centrifugal force.
A novel apparatus of the invention for reclaiming energy from sea waves directly as electricity by means of a generator is more reliable in operation than e.g. a traditional windmill, since the marine “action”, i.e. the oscillatory motion of waves, continues for a long time in response to inertial forces, even after the wind has calmed down, especially in deep water. The reflection of marine waves and the deflection of a wave front increase the continuity and duration of energy production, e.g. behind islands, even though the perceivable kinetic energy of water decreases. The magnitude of masses alternating in wave motion ensures a continuity in energy production, even though the water molecules or liquid “aquatic nuclei” usually orbit along paths which are circular or elliptical in a longitudinal section taken in the propagation course of waves.
Eventual applications of the invention cover all sectors of society which use or consume energy, e.g. traffic, housing, industrial production. Benefits include major cutbacks in raw materials and emissions of all sorts.
The invention is also workable as an anti-wave method and apparatus capable of “eating up” or eliminating water waves by combining the forces existing in water waves. Such an “anti-wave apparatus” generally establishes a quiescent surface of sea water in energy production, since the usual swell-producing force of preceding waves is spent for driving a generator shaft and producing electricity. The rotating speed of a turbine may reach quite a high rate in response to the height or the high frequency of multiple rolling waves. The invention is also workable at a low oscillation energy, i.e. a low amplitude, or at a high frequency, e.g. by virtue of the streamlined V-shape of vane elements or the summation of power from several waves.
The wave “eaters” are also functional as effective breakwaters or energy-producing piers without major construction operations and expensive extra equipment.
The invention is also useful as a source of energy for ships in propulsion or as a course smoother at high seas, where the oscillating swell is usually powerful and ships have a tendency of pitching and rolling. Hence, at an appropriate distance to precede the vessel, it is possible to arrange, e.g. at the end of a lengthy pole, a small propellable apparatus of the invention, which suppresses waves and claims energy from marine swells in the form of electric power for the propulsion of a traditional ship, a hydrofoil or a hovercraft, e.g. even at high propeller speeds.
The reverse action of waves may have an impact even at distant places. In fact, marine wave energy can be recovered even from an extensive area effectively from spots that are few and far between, as the oscillation propagates in water effectively and soundlessly to desired collecting spots, especially in long, high-energy carrying waves. As a result of the equalization of energy, the kinetic energy from waves in the proximity of calmer areas always transfers by propulsion or attraction into the calmer areas. The propelling motion of a wave, along with its inertial forces, can be guided by way of the vanes and power shaft of a turbine to a generator, in which the electromagnetic resistance forces must be overcome by working. The kinetic energy of a wave, once delivered into a generator, is no longer capable of generating a new wave in water, but what occurs is breaking of the wave without creating a new rising wave.
In most cases, the wave motion is almost symmetrical. The reverse propagation courses of a wave become readily comprehensible, when, for example, the wave motion created by tossing a pebble in quiescent water and propagating apparently away from the strike point, and the deflected or reflected wave passing in a reverse direction or inwards, are almost identical in terms of the energy distribution thereof.
Almost the entire energy of a wave front can be focused by means of an apparatus of the invention within the proximity of a power shaft 3 even from an extensive area. As a result of a true oscillatory motion performed by the molecules of water waves, there is also a return phase in the wave supplying the turbine shaft with more power at a surface inclined in the same sense of rotation. Wave motion has always an inclination to work its way to a waveless area. A turbine does not “know” the direction a wave is coming from, since currents and oscillations in all directions generally increase a rotative force on the turbine power shaft 3 in the same direction. The symmetry and double-faced design of a turbine often also facilitate a simple rotation of 180 degrees and a take-up of force even in just partially open V- or A-shapes of the vanes in a pair of vanes. With the waves of water remaining almost stationary with regard to molecules and the wave energy moving in an alternating oscillatory motion, an apparatus of the invention enables both directions of oscillation to be converted into electrical energy. In the interference of waves, all frequencies and wavelengths can be exploited. The apparatus has generally its rotating speed adjusting itself in a natural way. The circular waves, as described in reference to tossing a pebble, are functional also in the opposite sense.
The placement of electrical equipment in water can be implemented e.g. in air- or vacuum-insulated boxes sort of like a thermos bottle, for example in an apparatus with a horizontal shaft, the powerful motions of a wave surface being guided into a wave “eating” apparatus, for example through a slot 4 between vanes 1 and 2, or into any depression or recess of the vane for taking up the force.
Each alternating individual wave brings about a horizontal and vertical motion in the sea, which can be exploited in both directions by a turbine in the production of electricity. Thus, the recovered total energy of multiple bidirectional waves is much greater overall than the amount of short-term unidirectional energy recovered e.g. from the reservoirs of tidal power facilities. Indeed, the waves of waterways provide an energy output which surpasses the total output of existing hydropower. In reality, there is no such thing as energy shortage in the world at all, despite the fact that oil and coal reserves will be exhausted someday. The continuing marine waves provide an energy reserve sufficient for all people.
The water eddy in free vortex motion develops an air core at the centre and a high speed of rotation as the static pressure of water transforms into a small-radius velocity while retaining the moment of momentum. A high centrifugal force separates light gases from water in the inner curve side of the motion. A high-speed cyclonic vortex creating the centrifugal force is generally brought about by means of a narrowish tangential flow feeding slot from a reasonably extensive range relative to the shaft, even at a low speed. The adjoining or successive vortices can be set to lean on each other for a vortex field, unless there is a wall between the vortices.
The utility aspect of the invention is enhanced by using a three-phase frequency converter in the generator for producing high electric powers. A permanent magnet and direct current can be used for a free regulation of rotating speeds along with the mechanical energy reserve of gyro-forces.